interview trail: midwest stop #2

Y is a different sort of traveler than I am. I’m the kind of airplane passenger who puts my headphones on or buries my nose in a book immediately after sitting down. I don’t care where you’re from, 16A, I don’t care where you’re going, and I don’t want to tell you what I’m reading. Unless you have a baby. If you have a baby, I want to hold it and then give it back to you as soon as it starts crying so no one thinks I am that person with a crying baby on a plane.

Y, on the other hand, comes home with a person’s first and last name, where they went to elementary school, and the latest argument they had with their wife. During layovers, he dines in airport bars with plane-friends. On this trip, someone from Y’s flight was staying at his hotel and they went out to lunch. I DON’T GET IT.

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When Y told me he got this interview, I gave him the so-called stinkface, a term coined by Katie. I had never even considered visiting this particular state or city, much less living there. But then the following things happened:

the city’s standard Wikipedia page made it sound amazing.

every single person I mentioned it to told me I would love it.

part of our criteria for ranking is Ike’s reaction when we say the name of the state.* When I asked Ike if he wanted to live there he did this:

My point is, don’t completely write off a place just because you wouldn’t go there for a girls’ weekend.

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A theme of Y’s interview travels: call people you haven’t spoken to in 3 and a half years and ask to stay with them when you visit their respective cities. You get a free night and get to catch up with an old friend. And they get an unexpected houseguest who smells vaguely like a hospital. Win win.

I'm kind of a mix of the two types of travelers. Sometimes I end up talking to someone the whole flight and other times I'm the girl with her headphones in, Kindle out and lost to the world. (Except to ask for a Coke, please. )